Scott Armstrong is the Attorney General of the Province of Nova Scotia, yet he does not appear to understand Canadian law or the authority and jurisdiction attached to his office. Yesterday, he held a press conference directing the RCMP to raid all on and off reserve Mi’kmaw truckhouses lawfully selling cannabis in accordance with inherent Mi’kmaw rights and the Treaty of 1752.
In 1985, the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed that the Treaty of 1752 is a valid and enforceable treaty binding on both the Mi’kmaq and the Crown. Article 4 of the Treaty guarantees “free liberty to bring for Sale to Halifax or any other Settlement within this Province, Skins, feathers, fowl, fish or any other thing they shall have to sell, where they shall have liberty to dispose thereof to the best Advantage.” Cannabis/hemp was legal in Mi’kma’ki in 1752 and remains legal today. Its sale is therefore authorized both by treaty and by the regulations and customs the Mi’kmaq themselves determine to be necessary.
Scott Armstrong is the Attorney General of Nova Scotia – one province within the Canadian federation. A province is an administrative sub-unit of a state. Under Canada’s Constitution, provinces have jurisdiction over matters like education and health, and no jurisdiction over “Indians and lands reserved for Indians,” taxation of federal property, or currency and coinage.
A province has no authority over Aboriginal and treaty rights. Treaty relationships and nation-to-nation matters are not within provincial responsibility. Provinces are not nations, and they have no jurisdiction over “Indians” or their lands. An Indian reserve is not part of a province; it is land “reserved for Indians” and remains a federal responsibility. Scott Armstrong has no jurisdiction, as a provincial Attorney General, to pronounce on what happens within an Indian reserve – let alone direct police action to disrupt a trade and economic activity protected by treaty and by the Constitution, the highest law in Canada.
The provincial government is upset that its cannabis monopoly is being undercut by tax-free Mi’kmaw cannabis products sold across our unceded territory of Mi’kma’ki, in accordance with our inherent and treaty rights. But this does not justify Scott Armstrong’s declaration of hostility toward the Mi’kmaq Nation or our right to maintain our economy.
By his actions, Scott Armstrong is interfering with and violating the treaty relationship between the Crown and the Mi’kmaq, and he is doing so in a way that risks bringing violence and harm to our people. We call on the RCMP to refuse Armstrong’s unlawful directive. We call on Premier Tim Houston to remove Armstrong from office for attempting to enforce systemic racism against the Mi’kmaq. We further call on the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society to investigate whether this unconstitutional and discriminatory directive toward Mi’kmaq entrepreneurs and the Mi’kmaq Nation constitutes conduct unbecoming of a lawyer and undermines the integrity of the legal profession.
December 5, 2025 Statement issued by the Executive of the Micmac Rights Association